*** The new MacBook/MacBook Pro thread, all info in here ***

People use the "tap to click" option?

I've always found it to be annoying, plus the clunk of the trackpad sounds cool :p
 
Frank Butcher said:
New firmware and SMC updates for the new macbooks via software update, run software update again after firmware to get the other.
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It wouldn't let me update. I get the "This computer does not need this update" :confused:

EVH said:
People use the "tap to click" option?

I've always found it to be annoying, plus the clunk of the trackpad sounds cool :p
Click to expand...

Funny you should ask that, I just switched off tap to click. I kept opening things I didn't want to.
 
Applied both the SMC and EFI firmware updates with no problems :cool:

Updates weighed in at 2.2MB and 620kb respectively (2.8GHz Unibody MBP)

The System Profiler is reporting a higher "Maximum Charge Capacity" now, so it looks like the update works (it fixes issues with the accuracy reporting of the MagSafe) and generally went flawless.
 
I keep on seeing reports about the new 9400 / 9600 graphics chips in the new aluminum MacBook's suffer from the same problems as the old 8600, i.e overheating and killing over, especially when Snow Leopard comes round which will put the graphics chip under much more load than it is now. They couldn't make that mistake again surely.
 
Frank Butcher said:
I keep on seeing reports about the new 9400 / 9600 graphics chips in the new aluminum MacBook's suffer from the same problems as the old 8600, i.e overheating and killing over, especially when Snow Leopard comes round which will put the graphics chip under much more load than it is now. They couldn't make that mistake again surely.
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Scaremongers and jealous folk.
Heed them not.
I've had both chips going like the blazes rendering in Final Cut and yes, the machine gets hot but most certainly not bothered.
 
Frank Butcher said:
I keep on seeing reports about the new 9400 / 9600 graphics chips in the new aluminum MacBook's suffer from the same problems as the old 8600, i.e overheating and killing over, especially when Snow Leopard comes round which will put the graphics chip under much more load than it is now. They couldn't make that mistake again surely.
Click to expand...

Every piece of hardware is prone to failure.

It just happened to come from The Inquirer, which, to be fair are about as trustworthy as a damp sock when it comes to articles on nVidia.

Apple and nVidia should have systematic quality management systems to pick out the bad bunches. I think this patch was to ramp up the fans when pushed, just to be on the safe side.

You'll be covered on Applecare for a minimum for 1 year. Flog it on or get it repaired in a year if things go awry :)
 
EVH said:
Every piece of hardware is prone to failure.

It just happened to come from The Inquirer, which, to be fair are about as trustworthy as a damp sock when it comes to articles on nVidia.

Apple and nVidia should have systematic quality management systems to pick out the bad bunches. I think this patch was to ramp up the fans when pushed, just to be on the safe side.

You'll be covered on Applecare for a minimum for 1 year. Flog it on or get it repaired in a year if things go awry :)
Click to expand...

And what, may I ask, is so untrustworthy about a damp sock? :D

Agreed about the nvidia redesigning following catastrophic failure of the last lot.
 
Have any of you lucky people with a MacBook Pro put it through any Games test. In BootCamp I mean, how do Steam Games compare & also games like Crysis & COD5
 
Can't see any of the Steam games posing a problem because of the older HL2 engine, but Crysis? :/

COD5 should also be fine, it's the same engine as COD4 that scales well to lower spec hardware.
 
EVH said:
Every piece of hardware is prone to failure.

It just happened to come from The Inquirer, which, to be fair are about as trustworthy as a damp sock when it comes to articles on nVidia.

Apple and nVidia should have systematic quality management systems to pick out the bad bunches. I think this patch was to ramp up the fans when pushed, just to be on the safe side.

You'll be covered on Applecare for a minimum for 1 year. Flog it on or get it repaired in a year if things go awry :)
Click to expand...


I don't think its fine that a laptop only lasts a year because a manufacturing flaw, or that the consumer has to pick up the bill for fixing it, or pass on a faulty laptop to some unsuspecting buyer. Nice.

This is not a normal failure, its a failure due to a manufacturing defect. Apple and Dell are covering failures for this issue only up to 2 yrs. Which basically means these machines if they fail are an economic write off after 2yrs. The Inquirer broke this story and if they are wrong why did Dell and Apple extend the warranty? This fault has to decimate the resale value of these, unless to those that are not aware of the issue.
 
I bought a Macbook Pro 2.4Ghz model yesterday.

Thoughts so far:

On the whole, fairly happy with the machine it's beautifully made, one rather major issue I do have though is black screening when playing World of Warcraft.

Apparently this is a fairly common problem and is linked to the 9600GT graphics chip, I have played for quite some time with no issues at all using the 9400 integrated chip. However, I downloaded a little program called 'smcfancontrol' and set a profile to set the fans to 4000rpm straight away and then tried launching WoW and I haven't had any problems yet. Seems it's overheating the 9600 before the Apple's own software decides it's time to spin the fans up more to cool it. Very odd indeed.

After having a read around the fault does not seem to affect 'all' Macbook Pros, and if within the 14 day refund period the community is advising people to take the machine back for an exchange. I need to do more testing really but so far there are no other issues with my MBP at all, and I haven't had a problem with black screening when using smcfancontrol to increase the rpm of the fans either. But, I am loathed to have an expensive machine like this where I am reliant on a little 3rd party app to actually make it run reliably.

Also, Mac OSX seems fine, quite nice even, but I really do not see what all the fuss is about. If I do take this machine back, which I very likely will, I probably wont request an exchange, just a refund. So far I am not as sold on Mac OSX as I had imagined. And without that, this is really just a very expensive and very stylish laptop. I'd sooner have the Clevo M860TU with the 9800 in for slightly less money. Still, I haven't decided yet, maybe I will fall in love with Mac' in the next week or so and will just ask for an exchange.

Whatever the case I am not going to get into a situation with Apple where I am outside the 14 day return period and they are 'repairing' my mac, the idea of someone else having to repair my machine is bad enough, let alone when there is no word from Apple on what exactly this fairly common problem is, they just acknowledge it and say they are working on it.

Sorry, that turned into a bit more of an essay that I had intended, happy new year :p
 
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Ok, I have cracked ...I've been broken and beaten by the Macbook Pro now:eek:

I thought I held out fairly well though to be fair, to be sceptical and resistant to its ...temptations for as long as I have. It really is such a lovely machine I've decided to keep it after all.

Besides I've really gotten to like OS X quite a lot now. I'm selling off my collection of other laptops anyway, so I won't end up too out of pocket. The only way I can put this is to say, it is such a nice laptop to use, it really is a pleasure to just 'use' it, which isn't something I have said about an entire computer for a long, long time now.

I wouldn't go as far as saying I am sold on Macs and will now start to worship at the alter of Steve Jobs, far from it. But I do like the new Macbook Pro, a lot.

Damn it :p ...damn it, damn it!

Since I started using smcfancontrol with it though, I have not had so much as a hiccup in terms of stability. I still don't quite think it is right that I should have to use it to stop it roasting it's self when running games under Windows and to stop it crashing out using the 9600GT for anything particularly stressful under OS X. I am by no means the only one though it would seem. It seems a shame to take it back now though, as there are no dead pixels or any defects at all other than the problem I already mentioned, which I have worked around, thus far without issue. I feel I should really give it a hammering over the next few days to make sure it really is ok though.
 
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Ol!ver said:
Just been playing a HD movie, downloading another and opened about 4 apps in succession and no slow down.

Been looking at xbench results for my drive and the what people are getting with the standard SSD that Apple provide, and it's swings and roundabouts. The OCZ is much quicker in certain places but a little slower in others. Like I say though, so far I've not managed to make it stutter etc.

The areas it's slower than the Apple SSD though, it still seems faster than normal HDDs, so it's not really slow.
Click to expand...

Hows the SSD working out for you? No hiccups I hope. Wonder if actual real world usuability is as good as they say it is. ;)
 
Glad your enjoying it Moeks but imo you should get a replacement!

I haven't had any issues with mine at all in terms of heat (or any other issues for that matter)

P.S. I realise the lateness of my post! :)
 
Thanks, although I have gotten rid of it since I made that post. There was much to like, but I decided in the end that it wasn't for me. Maintaining two platforms, especially with the hoops I had to jump through to get OSX to cooperate with NTFS properly seemed like more trouble than it was worth in the end. Besides a number of things started to irritate me about Mac's also.
.

But you're probably right, I should have had it replaced had I chosen to keep it, the overheating can't have been a good sign.
 
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